The head of the Secret Service said the agency will “participate fully” in the independent review of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. The review of how it was allowed to happen was ordered by President Joe Biden.
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Director Kimberly Cheatle said on Monday that in addition to the review, the Secret Service will also work with Congress on “any oversight action,” CNN reported.
There have been questions as to how a shooter was able to shoot at former President Donald Trump, hitting him and killing a man who was attending the political rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Two others were wounded.
Cheatle released a statement on Monday saying , “Secret Service personnel on the ground moved quickly during the incident, with our counter sniper team neutralizing the shooter and our agents implementing protective measures to ensure the safety of former president Donald Trump.”
CNN also reported that the Secret Service did not sweep the building where the shooter was located. The agency had local law enforcement conduct security at the business.
Typically Secret Service will work with local law enforcement to secure locations. It is not known which local law enforcement agency was supposed to be in charge of where the shooter was found, CNN reported.
The shooter’s position was less than 150 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking. He used an AR-style rifle to shoot at Trump.
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Former Secret Service agents are speaking out about the failure to keep the president safe, The Guardian reported.
Former agents have told the AP that the shooter should not have been able to get to the roof and that the agency has to figure out how that lapse happened, saying that it was either officers neglecting their posts or a security plan flaw.
Stephen Colo, who retired from the Secret Service, told the AP , that the agency is “going to have to go through the security plan and interview a number of people from the director on down.” Color was with the agency for more than 27 years, and had been an assistant director when he retired in 2002.
Former agent Timothy McCarthy, who retired in 1994, told the AP that the Secret Service “better be doing a deep dive into what happened there and doing whatever it takes to figure it out.”
McCarthy was wounded when President Ronald Reagan was shot by an attempted assassin in 1981. He asked in reference to Trump’s shooting, “How did that happen? I mean, that’s the key to the entire thing. And what measures were put in place to prevent it?”
A video of the moments just before the shooting shows rally attendees pointing out the shooter before the sound of gunfire rang out. In the video, made public by TMZ, you can hear one person alerting an officer and another yell, “He’s on the roof” and “Right here, flat on the roof.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojeck called it “surprising” that the gunman was able to get shots off before he was killed by a member of the Secret Service’s counter-sniper team, The Associated Press reported. The team is responsible for taking out threats. They are heavily armed and use long-range binoculars to keep watch. They also have sniper rifles for long-range threats.
The shooting occurred days before the Republican National Convention, where Trump is expected to receive the party’s nomination.
Cheatle said that she is “confident in the security plan our Secret Service RNC coordinator and our partners have put in place, which we have reviewed and strengthened in the wake of Saturday’s shooting.”
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